# IL lists "homemakers" as mandated reporters. What's this mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 6, 2007, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/il-lists-homemakers-as-mandated-reporters-whats-this-mean/406971 "2007-06-06T11:22:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/il-lists-homemakers-as-mandated-reporters-whats-this-mean/406971/1 "2007-06-06T11:22:10Z")
Looking for something else, I stumbled across [this page at the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services](http://www.state.il.us/dcfs/child/index.shtml) which lists the professions required by Illinois law to report suspected or known child abuse or neglect. This paragraph caught my eye (bolding mine): > [@](#): > > The list also includes: supervisors and administrators of general assistance under the Illinois Public Aid Code. Other mandated reporters include social workers, social service administrators, substance abuse treatment personnel, domestic violence program personnel, crisis line or hotline personnel, foster parents, **homemakers** , recreational program or facility personnel, registered psychologists and assistants working under the direct supervision of a psychologist. Homemakers? The only definition I know of that word is as a euphemism for “person with no job outside the home.” However, that seems unlikely to me, as the rest of the mandated reporters are doctors, teachers and other health and education professionals. Putting homemakers in there just seems to be a huge catch-all, constraining a whole lot of people who may never actually be responsible for a child. Anyone with better google-fu than I who can find the actual statute involved and a definition of “homemaker” as it applies in this context? ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/il-lists-homemakers-as-mandated-reporters-whats-this-mean/406971/2 "2007-06-06T11:43:47Z")
I guess it means that if you witness yourself beating your own child, you should report yourself to the proper authorities. But seriously, your definition seems to be the correct one. Perhaps the point of putting homemaker in the list is that if a child is obviously abused, but you can’t prove mom did it, you can at least charge her with failure to report. But that seems to let the spouse who works outside the home off the hook, which isn’t fair. I guess I must confess to being stupified. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/il-lists-homemakers-as-mandated-reporters-whats-this-mean/406971/3 "2007-06-06T13:49:02Z")
When my little brother was born, there was a gap between the time my mother went into the hospital and when I could get cared for by other family members. For about a weekend, there was someone provided by the government (county-level, probably) who came and stayed in our home and took care of me. Her job title was “Homemaker.” It seemed like a low level social work position. This was in the late '70s in Minnesota. You might try finding some site that lists all the paid job titles in human services/social work in Illinois if you really need to track this down. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/il-lists-homemakers-as-mandated-reporters-whats-this-mean/406971/4 "2007-06-06T13:58:19Z")
Yep, it’s a [“domestic helper”.](http://www.prairienet.org/dcfs-project/randp/p351p379/p359/359.51.html) ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/il-lists-homemakers-as-mandated-reporters-whats-this-mean/406971/5 "2007-06-06T14:18:48Z")
[QUOTE=Sophistry and Illusion] I guess it means that if you witness yourself beating your own child, you should report yourself to the proper authorities. But seriously, your definition seems to be the correct one. Perhaps the point of putting homemaker in the list is that if a child is obviously abused, but you can’t prove mom did it, you can at least charge her with failure to report. But that seems to let the spouse who works outside the home off the hook, which isn’t fair. I guess I must confess to being stupified. [/QUOTE] Or it could be further incentive to report your spouse/bf/SO beating on the kid. Say I’m the “homemaker” (which aside from my little eBay business, I am), and I divorce my hubby, and my scum of a bf moves in and starts muscling around my kids. Now, in reality, I’d probably end up reporting myself for chopping him up in pieces and putting the pieces in the compost heap out back. But I could use that statute of the law to report him. I might be tempted _not_ to report him if I’m scared of him/in love with him/dependent on his income, or any combo thereof. But with that law in place, if I _don’t_ report it, I’m guilty too, thereby adding incentive for me to report. ---
**Author:** ![CeilingWhacks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@CeilingWhacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CeilingWhacks)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/il-lists-homemakers-as-mandated-reporters-whats-this-mean/406971/6 "2007-06-06T14:29:00Z")
[QUOTE=Sophistry and Illusion] I guess it means that if you witness yourself beating your own child, you should report yourself to the proper authorities. [/QUOTE] LOL! You should! I wonder how often this happens? Not to mention the fact that the authorities don’t give a rat’s ass… Sorry to be so cynical…but still. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/il-lists-homemakers-as-mandated-reporters-whats-this-mean/406971/7 "2007-06-06T14:51:06Z")
[QUOTE=Duck Duck Goose] Yep, it’s a [“domestic helper”.](http://www.prairienet.org/dcfs-project/randp/p351p379/p359/359.51.html) [/QUOTE] Huh. Thanks! Sounds almost like what we’d call a doula today, except maybe not limited to postnatal work. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/il-lists-homemakers-as-mandated-reporters-whats-this-mean/406971/8 "2007-06-06T15:13:46Z")
[QUOTE=norinew] Now, in reality, I’d probably end up reporting myself for chopping him up in pieces and putting the pieces in the compost heap out back. [/QUOTE] No. Because in reality, you know that animal flesh is bad for compost heaps. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/il-lists-homemakers-as-mandated-reporters-whats-this-mean/406971/9 "2007-06-06T16:39:08Z")
[QUOTE=Sattua] No. Because in reality, you know that animal flesh is bad for compost heaps. [/QUOTE] Ah. On to plan B, then, which would be to chop the parts up small enough to fit them down the sewer grates. . .